Bristol Palin returns to reality TV spotlight

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Bristol Palin says she is just a "grounded, normal mom", and is hoping her new reality TV show will prove it.

"Life's a Tripp", which premieres on the Lifetime channel on Tuesday, June 19, is being promoted as an inside look at the life of "America's most famous teen mom" in the face of intense media scrutiny.

It follows the eldest daughter of polarizing conservative politician Sarah Palin as she embarks on her latest adventure - a move from her Wasilla, Alaska hometown to a Los Angeles mansion owned by a family friend, and back again - along with her young son Tripp.

"People are going to see the real Bristol in this show," Palin, now 21, told the "Good Morning America" TV news and chat show. "I'm just a grounded, normal mom."

Palin burst onto the national scene four years ago in what she now calls "one of the most intense and embarrassing ways possible" as the accidentally pregnant, unmarried 17-year-old daughter of the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate.

She has since parlayed her notoriety into a lucrative career as a speaker on teen pregnancy prevention, a somewhat tongue-tied stint on "Dancing With the Stars", a 2011 memoir, a controversial blog, and now her own 10-episode reality show.

"Bristol really didn't hold back. As the series progresses, she really opens up her life to us," Matt Lutz, one of the show's producers, told Reuters.

"We see her relationship with her son, with her family, her boyfriend, we see her struggles as a single mom, and struggling dealing with her ex-fiancé Levi Johnston and his role in Tripp's life. It's really a no-holds-barred look at Bristol's life," Lutz said.
Continued...